After a phenomenal eight days in Japan, I’m back in sunny Los Angeles and ready to get down to business preparing for Anderson. But first, a quick recap of the Tokyo chapter of my trip (see previous post for Part 1). My brother and I left Kyoto on a high note, meeting up with family friends from Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe for dinner and sake—really good sake. I probably learned more of the Japanese language in those few hours than ever before, including the most relevant word of the week, “atsui,” to describe the hot weather.
The next morning we rode the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo and searched out our ryokan (Japanese-style inn) in a quaint section of town called Yanaka, which is known for it’s more traditional lifestyle and slow pace amid the hustle and bustle of the largest metropolitan area in the world. With home base established, we spent the next few days riding back and forth on the JR Yamanote line checking out each of the famous, and infamous, districts of Tokyo.
In Ikebukuro we found our favorite kaiten-zushi joint, where little plates of sushi move through the restaurant on a conveyor belt. Akihabara was an overload of electronics, arcades, comics and toys. The red light district of Shinjuku was wild, but that's another story for another blog! Harajuku lived up to its billing as a fashion and street style capital of the world. And we snapped a few photos at the famed Shibuya crossing, supposedly the busiest intersection in the world, before checking out the nightlife in that area.
Although I was unable to meet a couple Anderson alumni due to conflicting schedules, their advice was invaluable as we planned our days; it’s great to see the network in action. I’m particularly excited to get to know some of my international classmates from Japan and elsewhere. One of the great virtues of a business school like Anderson is the variety of backgrounds and diversity of experiences within the program... things you simply cannot replicate by Googling.
And speaking of diversity, in my next post I’ll share a little bit about two amazing programs with which Anderson has partnered to promote diversity and inclusion in MBA programs: Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) and the Consortium. These two organizations have helped me immensely in many ways, and I hope to pass on just a sliver of what I've learned.
Thanks for reading!
- Gregory Paige
(Follow me on Twitter: @gregorypaige)
